This is one of my favorite pictures of the 3D castle puzzle I recently completed. I enjoy jigsaw and logic puzzles because they allow me to practice my problem-solving and tactile working preferences. Puzzles are great to work on with people, and I enjoy working with people. I enjoy meeting them and helping them. While I enjoy talking to folks in a one-sided manner such as during a presentation, I most enjoy talking with them through discussion, in which I can receive a response. I am sometimes told that I am better at small talk because I enjoy getting to know a lot about an individual quickly after I have met him/her.
All of these qualities about me are also exercised in a career in the education field. I have long enjoyed reading and writing, even while I was not so good at writing in high school. I studied English in my undergraduate studies and like to think about applying my knowledge and abilities in the classroom as the instructor rather than the student. In particular, I am currently seeking opportunities to teach overseas so that I may once more immerse myself in foreign cultures and experiences. This desire is further explained in my philosophy below.
Since my return from studying abroad in my undergraduate studies, I have developed a passion for international relations and communication. For my students, I hope to instill an understanding of their generation's responsibility to take care of this earth and to communicate and cooperate with others worldwide. One of my favorite mantras is "If you can do something positive, then you should do something positive." The modern age of communication instills a global responsibility to grow aware of the peoples and societies with which we cohabit this small earth, and because youths have the technological capabilities of mending social and cultural rifts by communicating with people of other nations, they should do so. Perhaps I could inspire my students and their susceptible minds with the ideas of recognizing the significance that world travel had for the authors they study in my English class and for the possibilities they could create for themselves through global communion and awareness.
Philosophy
Cooperation and active communication are key lessons I hope to instill and exhibit to my students. As their teacher, it would be my duty, both civic and professional, to teach them positive lessons which can not only aid them but also their future coworkers. My philosophy is that if I have something I can teach to them, then I should teach it to them; a philosophy that is very similar to my mantra that if something positive can be done, then it should be done. I will not be a perfect teacher, and I may say some wrong things, but these mistakes would only lead into another of my key lessons: communication and self-expression are vital. The youth's mind is skillful in picking up on ideas, both the positive and the negative. Teachers must learn how to make their points without hindering the positive and potential relations, and if a mistake is made, then teachers must correct it to the best of their abilities without further hindering their lines of communication and connections. Humility and respect are often called for, particularly in regard to personal convictions. Because of their positions in the classroom, teachers can hold an influence over the youths' impressionable minds, so whatever the teacher says must be constructive, formative, and positive. The support within my classroom will encourage students to say what they are thinking without the anxiety that they may be wrong, for I believe that every voice and opinion matters. If disagreement ensues, support would come in the form of allowing both parties to defend themselves in a non-confrontational manner.
It is important for teachers to get to know their students on personal levels so that we may understand how best they learn and listen. Adolescent students may learn just by observing their educators, but I would also encourage them to research and study on their own so that they would not rely too heavily on what I have to tell them. Personal experience is an authentic tool for learning, and students must be provided practical opportunities to observe, practice, and learn. I hope that they would observe my mannerisms and listen to what I have to say about how to communicate and express one's ideas without offending one another. I could assess whether they have truly learned by noting how they express what they have learned. I want to instill in my students the idea that cooperation is good and necessary, that working alone is not wrong either but must not be done all the time, and that becoming aware of other people's problems is the first step to mending relations, both with a peer or an entire country. Currently, I am undergoing a practicum study of a secondary level English teacher for tenth graders. Each student is supplied with an iPad for classwork, and the teacher is provided an iPad and MacbookAir. Her Smart Board is operational when connected to this computer, and she is equipped with Smart Notebook '15 technologies. Two computers are in the classroom, but if the students decide that they cannot type their assignments on their phones or iPads, then we would instead go to the school library. She does not utilize the Smart technologies often and only projects Powerpoints on the board occasionally. Most of her work is done by the individual student or in groups, and they often use their one-to-one iPads for these activities.
I have learned how to operate Smart Board technologies and can do so fairly well. I have had no experience in creating a Prezi, although I have presented using one. I would like to learn how to create a Prezi, work with a movie maker application, blogs, wikis, digital storytelling, and presenting oral histories. I only have a small grasp of what digital storytelling is and have never applied the method, and I am not sure what an oral history project entails. I have had minimal interaction with wikis other than reading them outside of class, and the same applies for blogging.
I need to overcome my level of technological savvy in order to complete these objectives, but with proper guidance and practice I have no worry that such cannot be done. Once I become familiar with the technologies available to me in the classroom, I can better my abilities to apply and present my knowledge in an understandable manner to my students.
The presentation covers the historical context which led up to and inspired George Orwell to create his satirical masterpiece. The prezi also reviews several comments Orwell had for the book and its political nature as well as his opinions of global affairs at the time. Because Animal Farm is all about allegory and allusion, the presentation would not be complete without a study of several examples of the direct parallels between the artistic and political events in the novel and reality.
I intend to use this presentation in the very near future. The teacher I am working with currently in my practicum study will be covering both Animal Farm and 1984 with her English II Honors class. Animal Farm is also the entry text for one of the grade levels at an international school I was looking into overseas. If I were to show the school that I would come thoroughly prepared for my lessons, then perhaps my chances of receiving a job offer would increase!
This digital storytelling assignment juxtaposes different children's and young adult literature stories and tales to present the concept of allegorical interpretation and connection. I say interpretation because allegories from the same story may often be determined with different meanings from different readers' interpretations, and I say connection because very often the story's allegory can be interpreted as it connects to real life events and narratives.
An allegory is a symbolic and figurative portrayal of a a subject, occurrence, theme, or person as represented in a fictional narrative. This medium is particularly effective in portraying allegory and its significance to literature because it allows examples of the different modes of sound, audio, and visual to be presented within the same platform. Not only that, but in this video is a conglomeration of multiple scenes from separate videos that, when combined, contribute to a better understanding of the subject concept through the juxtaposition of the allegorical tale's narrative and its real life interpretation or connection.
I spent some days delaying my start of this project because I had no idea what to do in Movie Maker, and another evening was spent wondering what I would do the project on as I watched tutorials for the program. I finally decided on allegories and eventually got a grasp on how to operate the program. Finding appropriate music was a minor difficulty, but the final product developed very well.
I could use this technology to present the allegory subject matter before I have my students learn independently as they might create their own video projects describing other literary devices similar to allegory. Students could further learn about allegory as they relate this video's information to a particular text that they study. Editing
A proper editing assignment would only be effective if the individual whose material is being edited understands the purpose of the edits and commits to completing them within the document without reluctance. The purpose of an education is to create a knowledgeable foundation for a student's preparation for and independence in their future environments. So many students are used to having work or tasks done for them at school and at home. They may be accustomed to having the teacher provide edits and simply apply the changes in a revision and expect an acceptable grade. But what task does the teacher accomplish if the student does not understand why s/he is making these changes and the student continues to write sub-par work that will not warrant him a job?
The lesson activity that involves editing that I might use in my class would have the students practice their own critical reading and comprehension skills so that they may better understand what should be edited and why. I have been told to never have students revise their peers' papers, and I can understand that advice for good reason; however, there is nothing wrong with peer review and "advice" sessions. I say "advice" here instead of "editing" because some students may be reluctant to provide or receive and apply edits from other students, but if their peer partner, who would hopefully be someone they would respect, were to give advice on what might make a better assignment, then maybe the reviewed student would be more receptive.
The activity would not begin right away with the peer advice session, however. I would first apply a scaffolding technique in which I would project a paper onto the board, perhaps one I had written or one from a long ago student, and I would show them what corrections to make while explaining their purpose. I would use another example in a similar fashion, only I would have students come up to the projector and mark on the paper what I and their peers agree should be marked. This would be the "We do" section of the "I do, We do, You do" scaffolding technique. Editing both papers would take around ten minutes, and if students still struggle with any concepts then I will extend these initial activities. Before I release the students into their partner "advice" sessions, I would make it clear that the reviewing student must explain his motives for the advice to the reviewed student, and the reviewed student should not feel pressured to accept the changes if s/he does not agree with the remarks.
Oral History Lesson Plan
Background:
Students are beginning a literature unit, the final project for which is one where they interview an "author" of a work they have studied in their World Literature I class (E.A. Poe, Bill Shakespeare, Emerson, Sophocles). Students will dress and play the part of an author being interviewed for an oral history project. This lesson is the second in a unit of six.
Lesson:
Introduce students to the "feel" of an oral history project and interview and the many variations of such projects that can serve and inspire them. In class, we will review parts three of the six available oral history interviews, and for homework, students will watch two of the remaining three. In and out of class, we will dissect the videos with comments and answers to questions that I will provide or they will create.
Purpose:
Students will determine what they think best compliments and most hinders the appeal and nature of the oral history project. The students will regard interviewer tactics, interviewee responses, media edits, approaches and questions, material, and other methods involved in oral history interviews, and they will use this material to determine what they will and will not do in their own projects.
What mediums are used in the project?
Does the editor use still pictures/audio overlay/transitions and video splices/music?
How does the interviewer format his questions?
What is a leading/loaded question?
How does the interview determine whether the interviewee has finished speaking or only pausing or thinking?
In what manner does the interviewer ask his questions?
How formal is the interview?
What is the purpose of subtitles?
Do subtitles work better than an interpreter speaking over the interviewer?
What do you think works best: to hear the questions spoken, see them written on the screen, or neither?
What is significant about the setting in which the interview takes place?
What is something that you should not do during the interview that you witness one or several of these interviewers doing?
What is the best way to handle sensitive subject matter?
What are some different ways the editors begin the video?
What part of having multiple interviewees helps the oral history project progress well/not as well?
How do the interviewers apply what their multiple interviewees had to say to the video?
This wiki is set up to work with the oral history projects I created above, and it is titled as such. My students will be grouped together with three or four members, and together they will determine which separate responsibility each member will have for the project. It is a collaborative effort, and some might say that one bad apple could ruin the project for the other members, but I have two ideas. First, I hope that providing each student with a task would teach them to work not only for themselves but for the group as a whole, or at least s/he would not slack off the entire time. The project cannot go forward without each member doing his or her part, and I will stress that students can help their partners but cannot do the work for them. They will be able to "encourage" each other to get the job done, and I will grade them partly on their group member evaluations, which each student will have to do for the other members.
The different responsibilities are associated with the tasks: Interviewer asks the questions, Interviewee answers the questions, Cinematographer films the interview, Scriptwriter transcribes the interview. Rubrics are given for each part of the assignment, including a two page biographical paper (real or contextualized from the story depending on whether they choose to interview an author or character) that the members will work together to write.
Conducting a project such as this would have my students learning independently from their teacher. While in class I would conduct the general historical overview for context's sake, it would be the students' jobs to delve deeper into the author's, or character's, life and personality to understand better the message or purpose of the literature. They would have an artistic license for creativity in producing a style or story for their facts and presentation, so they would be practicing their creativity and collaboration skills as well as honing their knowledge and understanding.
Blog
I will admit that I might prefer to use wikis rather than blogs in my classroom so that the students could have the opportunity to comment on each other's submissions, or contribute to the submission if it was a group project. With a wiki, all the materials, submissions, profiles, and tags would be in the same place for easier access, rather than having me or a student look up the web address for each individual blog.
On another note, I had some difficulty in coming up with how to use a blog for a class assignment. I am a creative individual and have always appreciated what blogs can bring to self-expression and representation on today's internet. I have never before used one, although I have considered the idea. One idea I fancied was having the students take on a persona from a novel and using the blog as a means of writing a letter or diary or something of the like so that they would have the chance to express themselves creatively but also come to understand the characters better. However, this was an example used in class, and I wanted my project to be somewhat original.
I came up with the idea of having the blog serve a purpose that my students choose out of several proposed possibilities, or my students could apply multiple options in their submissions. The students can use the blog as a personal comment board in which they analyze or critique a character or author (examples: their actions, motives, personality, purpose, etc.) or they could become the character or author and further explain from a first person point of view these listed qualities. Either way, I am causing the students to develop their own ideas and understandings of the text through creative expression, and they are having to further explain their thoughts. This exercise would come into use during classroom conversation as a few students share their posts in the discussion.
For these blogs, students would use their school email accounts, which are usually tied to Google, and set up a Blogger account and title it in a fashion similar to mine that hints at what the blog will be about. For instance, I wrote about Andre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, and I created an example blog called MonteCristotreasures that would serve a template purpose for my students when they are creating their own. These entries would not be long (just a few paragraphs of a couple of sentences each), but I would require them to show some thought and perhaps research evidence for contextual purposes. My example post is broad and general, but it serves as food for thought for my students. I thought that because blogs were different from wikis, readers would not be able to comment on posts because only the author can alter a blog post, but there is a comment option below my post, and I spend a good 30 minutes trying to submit a comment from another Google account and could not, so I am not too sure what to think about comments on blogs. My students would not be commenting on each other's outside of class anyways.
A summary and interpretation of "More than Beliefs: Subject Areas and Teachers' Integration of Laptops in Secondary Teaching" as published by Peter Caputi, Amy Chan, and Sarah K. Howard in the 46th volume of the British Journal of Education Technology on 2 November 2015.
The authors address the issue of effective adoption and integration of information and communication technologies (ICT's) within the classroom. Their survey regards the correlation between a subject area (Math, Science, or English) and the subject teacher's belief in the significance of using ICT's and their readiness over time to use ICT's within the classroom. Their findings discuss a higher correlation and acceptance of English teachers in their belief and readiness to apply ICT's in their learning and a lower belief and readiness in Math teachers. The authors provide three implications from their research analysis: subject area beliefs about integration affect the frequency of use; ICT's should be 'matched' with subject area values and learning outcomes; 'matches and clashes' are influenced by teacher knowledge, beliefs about practice, and curriculum and assessment (361).
The authors address what they know as they begin the study, such as their theory that "values and beliefs of subject areas are unlikely to be influenced by institutional initiatives to change teaching practice" (361). Then they regard their paper's research contributions, such as the effect of subject areas on integration, their contribution "to the variance of teachers' beliefs about integration, and their "unique trajectories over time in technology-related initiatives" (361). The authors define 'readiness' as the teacher's "perception of capabilities and skills required to integrate laptops," and 'belief' as the teacher's "perception of laptop's influence on learning and achievement on instruction and activities" in the different subject areas (362).
The primary concern in this article is how each subject area regards the growing significance of integrating ICT's during the initiative. According to the authors, "Mathematics emphasizes skills and procedures, but ICT's are not seen as important for success, and English emphasizes experience and feel for language, and ICT's are believed to support learning" (362). The part most relevant to those in an English class is that English teachers were the only ones to report an increase in confidence toward the integration and application of ICT's, and English teachers reported the strongest positive beliefs about ICT integration and significance.
Overall, findings show that "subject areas contributed to the variance of teacher beliefs" regardless of the amount of time and that subject areas "had unique trajectories in technology integration initiatives" (367). Evidently, subject areas do matter in terms of integration. There is a 'match' between English and ICT integration, and application is motivated by the belief that ICT use "supports the desired learning outcome" (368). The next step in the study would be to increase the amount of time teachers are observed and to understand better the 'matches' between subject area integration and the support of learning outcomes and student achievement (368).
Emerging Educational Technology
Image result for pokemon go
My first thoughts on emerging educational technology were directed towards virtual reality. I think the educational benefits of such technologies are apparent, as we could lead our students on virtual tours of the Louvre, or find a program placing us in medieval Europe, Ancient Greece, or any location in time or space that would help my students better understand the conditions, circumstances, and possible emotions of the authors they are studying.
In my search, though, I deviated from virtual reality when I came across web chatter about augmented reality. The definition of augmented reality from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary reads: "an enhanced version of reality created by the use of technology to overlay digital information on an image of something being viewed through a device (as a smartphone camera)."
So what popped into my mind when I discovered the term may have been thoughts of Pokemon Go. While I have not played the game any, it serves as a popular and practical example of recent emerging augmented reality technology. A player can choose to let the game access his smartphone in-game and project a Pokemon's image onto the player's real-life surroundings through the camera view. While I thought this was a marvelous innovation, I could not decide how Pokemon Go might be an educational tool, so I put off researching into augmented reality with the hopes that I might come across something better.
Image result for pokemon go
The funny part of this story is that last week, my mother arrived with a bag of Cracker Jack candy popcorn from Sumter, and we can all rejoice that the company still adheres to its original enticements of including a toy in the bag. The sign of modern times became apparent, however, when I opened the first bag and discovered that the toy's most enjoyable feature can only be found through installing a smartphone application called Blippar.
Reluctantly, I download the app so that I might enjoy this little goody, and I discovered two things! 1) Blippar is an augmented reality application that automatically and seamlessly interacts with the camera view's surroundings. 2) Bllippar does A LOT!!
I first noticed that Blippar requires the user to point the camera at a specific item, and the app "deciphers" the item, spits out all sorts of words that connect to the item; they were synonyms, similar/related items, designs, purposes. Then Blippar takes a sort of snapshot of what it determines the item is, puts it along the bottom of the screen, and continues scanning the environment.
At the bottom of the screen, the user can select the recently placed snapshot, which takes him to a screen that places the snapshot in the center of a bubble chart and has related items, manufacturers, and maybe retailers stemming from the centered shot. Below is a pull-up screen that comes up when swiped and shows the user any available information, usually being a synopsis or timeline of the item. Below this is a list of connected websites that have some mention of the particular item as well as a list of yet some more related objects.
For my example, I "blipped" my computer keyboard. Blippar began producing words such as TYPING, DEVICE, COMPUTER, COMPUTER KEYBOARD, COMMUNICATION (note that it also produces phrases). Then it took a snapshot of a keyboard that was not mine but which it accessed through the web, labeled it "Keyboard Computer" and placed it at the bottom of the screen. I clicked on the shot and went to the first bubble chart page.
I clicked on the bottom bubble stem, labeled "Commodore 64," and went to its bubble chart. I swiped up to view its information page, in which I read about the Commodore 64 home computer, had the option of being taken to Wikipedia (while still inside the app), and looked at related "blipps" such as the ZX Spectrum, 8-bit, Apple Inc., Demoscene, and others.
Looking at all that the Blippar App does, I would say that it is one of the emerging products making the best use of augmented reality technologies and what they have to offer. In a classroom, particularly for low-level classes just learning about words or synonyms, this application could come in handy. It would introduce students to words and labels they may not otherwise know, allow them the access and means to research the words or items, satisfy some curiosity or hunger of knowledge, and even keep them entertained.
For instance, following the example provided in Blippar, I could instruct a lesson regarding bubble charts. The students can see how the app forms a bubble chart around a central idea/topic and expands the ideas to further bubbles. Each bubble comes with its own bubble chart, links, and information. Using Blippar as an example, my students could better understand how to use a graphic organizer like the bubble chart. Blippar can also be used for research of particular materials. If the app blips an image of William Shakespeare, it would take the user to a chart of the writer and all of his works and life events. I could have students create Prezi presentations to provide information in similar ways, as Blippar's fluid presentation is stylistically similar to Prezi's.
Blippar also has its own website and includes a program suite that is free to educators at https://blippar.com/en/. A teacher can use the suite to create his own blips around a particular word/image/subject and provide a private classroom code to his students so that they may access the blips and uncover through augmented reality the various interactive information and activities the teacher can link to the subject of study.
For all our benefits, I have included below the Cracker Jack prize activity. I scanned the sticker and it took me to a virtual baseball park, where each sticker corresponds to a particular base. Now, I have three of the bases filled. If you click on an unlocked base, a certain activity pops up. The one for my example sticker was to film myself on a Cracker Jack dance cam. After dancing/singing whatever, I can choose to share my product with my friends. All very good fun!
Revision Project: Oral Histories
This lesson follows the first in an oral history unit I would conduct with ninth graders in a World Literature high school class. This is the final unit of my course before the End-of-Course Exam, and serves as a review unit with a heavy final project grade attached.
The preceding lesson has introduced students to the topic of oral histories and to the final project assignment:
they interview an "author" or "character" of a work they have studied in their World Literature I class (E.A. Poe, Bill Shakespeare, Emerson, Sophocles). Students will dress and play the part of an author being interviewed for an oral history project.
This lesson builds off of the first by reinforcing the students' understanding of oral histories, how to conduct them, and what works or does not work to make the oral history (content and video interview) present its message in the most effective manner. The primary learning objective is for students to be exposed to various procedures and practices of oral history video interviews and to determine for themselves what techniques they like and would want to include in their own projects and how they would perform them. In class, students will receive a handout of no more than 20 questions. These questions are directed toward these six video examples of oral histories that the students will watch in and out of class:
Students will watch segments ranging between 5 and 10 minutes each of the "Oral History Research Method," "Sitting Bull's Great Grandson," and "Steven Zahn Oral History" videos in class. The "Research Method" video will serve as review material as well as an example video. For homework, students will view the last three videos: "Tibet Remembered," "An Irish American Oral History," and "Oral Histories from Segregated Evansville." As they view all six movies, students will answer the 20 questions on the handout. This handout serves as reinforcement of their new knowledge and understanding of oral histories and also as a guideline for what devices and aesthetics help to make a more effective oral history video interview. Students will not need to answer these questions to analyze their own oral history projects, and they will not need to answer all 20 for each video -- simply, they will use whatever input they gather from any of the six videos to answer the questions efficiently and with examples. To ensure that students view some pieces of all six videos, I will require that they apply an example from each of the videos as they answer any of the 20 questions.
Throughout this lesson, students will regard interviewer tactics, interviewee responses, media edits, approaches and questions, material, and other methods involved in oral history interviews. They will use this material to determine what they will and will not do in their own projects.
Questions we will consider in class:
What media are used in an oral history project?
What roles are involved in creating an oral history project?
How does an effective editor use pictures, audio, transitions, video, or music together?
What devices and aesthetics make for an effective video interview?
How does the interviewer format his questions?
What is a leading/loaded question?
How should a loaded question be used?
How does the interview determine whether the interviewee has finished speaking or is only pausing or thinking?
In what manner does the interviewer ask his questions?
How formal is the interview, and how formal is the most effective one that you view?
What is the purpose of subtitles?
Do subtitles work better than an interpreter speaking over the interviewer?
Which works best: to hear the questions spoken, see them written on the screen, or should your audience only be presented with the interviewee's answers?
What is significant about the setting in which the interview takes place?
How might the setting and background might distract your audience from the focal interviewee and what s/he is saying?
What is something that you should not do during the interview that you witness one or several of these interviewers doing?
What is the best way to handle sensitive subject matter?
What are some different ways the editors begin the video?
What part of having multiple interviewees helps the oral history project progress well/not as well?
How do the interviewers apply what their multiple interviewees had to say to the video?
Revision Reflection
I chose the Oral History unit as my project to revise because as I was writing my initial project I knew that I could make it better if I had the time to spend on doing so. Even more reason and help came from Dr. Maxwell as she pointed my attention to some unclear areas in my direction, application, and reflection of the project.
In the revision, I clarified what we would be doing class, so there is no confusion as to how many videos we would be watching and for how long. I detailed the learning objective of the lesson so that an audience might be aware of what this lesson's purpose is and what I would want my students to learn from this lesson. I also rewrote my instructions regarding the handout, writing that the students had to answer no fewer than 10 questions in class and finish the rest as they viewed the remaining videos. Examples from the different videos are required in their explanations, but only one example is needed per answer; this is to show me that they at least looked at all six videos. Also, there should not be any more confusion that the questions only apply to the six sample oral history videos, and the students will not be using the handout to analyze their own video. The questions and answers were to serve more as guidelines. I added four more questions to the original sixteen to make it into a rounded 20, and I edited a few words here and there for more precise language.
In my revision, I have also designed my lesson plan to be applied to this project. Doing so helped me to organize my thoughts and designs for the revised project. I have included my lesson plan for this revision project here:
I am glad to have the chance to revise this, and I feel much better about the project now.
Reflection
My class experience for ENGL 564 in its entirety is a very positive and enriching one. I accomplished my personal goals of learning how to use and apply different educational technologies as well as research others not directly mentioned in class. Some of the products I had heard of and used before, and others were completely new to me. For the most part, it was an entirely new and unfamiliar experience. I can now use Prezi and MovieMaker with confidence, know how to construct a Wiki or Blog page, understand Oral Histories and rising technologies like the augmented reality tools and phone apps, and I am much more knowledgeable of how to use technology in the classroom to increase learning due to the class readings we had to conduct.
Many of these activities I intend to use in class in the future, if I have not already done so. I have already taken my efforts from the Prezi and MovieMaker presentations and applied them within the English II classes I was working with during my practicum experience at a high school. I benefited greatly from already having done all the work and being readily familiar with the material, and the students benefited greatly from my confidence and knowledge in the presentation. In my own high school career, my teachers utilized oral histories as projects, and I can very well do the same as well as apply emerging technologies like Blippar in my classroom.
The Prezi, MovieMaker, Oral History, Wiki, and emerging technologies projects were the most helpful for me to learn in this class. One project that I can recognize the modern importance of but may not use in my own classroom is the blog project. I would prefer to use a Wiki, where students can post and receive comments from others on their own work, rather than a blog, where writing material on the page is confined only to the single author. Otherwise, none of the projects worked improperly or differently than expected.
Since I began this course, my expectation and understanding of educational technology has certainly become more refined and expansive. Conducting a research on educational technologies and emerging technologies later in the semester were good projects that allowed us each to bring to the table our individual ideas and perceptions and help expand our classmates' understanding of the technologies available to us in the classroom. I do not think that before this class I had ever thought of what my own understanding of using technologies in the classroom was, but now I have much more of an understanding of the concept and its use in my own future in education.
O'er Every Wall and Barrier
All of these qualities about me are also exercised in a career in the education field. I have long enjoyed reading and writing, even while I was not so good at writing in high school. I studied English in my undergraduate studies and like to think about applying my knowledge and abilities in the classroom as the instructor rather than the student. In particular, I am currently seeking opportunities to teach overseas so that I may once more immerse myself in foreign cultures and experiences. This desire is further explained in my philosophy below.
Philosophy
Cooperation and active communication are key lessons I hope to instill and exhibit to my students. As their teacher, it would be my duty, both civic and professional, to teach them positive lessons which can not only aid them but also their future coworkers. My philosophy is that if I have something I can teach to them, then I should teach it to them; a philosophy that is very similar to my mantra that if something positive can be done, then it should be done. I will not be a perfect teacher, and I may say some wrong things, but these mistakes would only lead into another of my key lessons: communication and self-expression are vital. The youth's mind is skillful in picking up on ideas, both the positive and the negative. Teachers must learn how to make their points without hindering the positive and potential relations, and if a mistake is made, then teachers must correct it to the best of their abilities without further hindering their lines of communication and connections. Humility and respect are often called for, particularly in regard to personal convictions. Because of their positions in the classroom, teachers can hold an influence over the youths' impressionable minds, so whatever the teacher says must be constructive, formative, and positive. The support within my classroom will encourage students to say what they are thinking without the anxiety that they may be wrong, for I believe that every voice and opinion matters. If disagreement ensues, support would come in the form of allowing both parties to defend themselves in a non-confrontational manner.It is important for teachers to get to know their students on personal levels so that we may understand how best they learn and listen. Adolescent students may learn just by observing their educators, but I would also encourage them to research and study on their own so that they would not rely too heavily on what I have to tell them. Personal experience is an authentic tool for learning, and students must be provided practical opportunities to observe, practice, and learn. I hope that they would observe my mannerisms and listen to what I have to say about how to communicate and express one's ideas without offending one another. I could assess whether they have truly learned by noting how they express what they have learned. I want to instill in my students the idea that cooperation is good and necessary, that working alone is not wrong either but must not be done all the time, and that becoming aware of other people's problems is the first step to mending relations, both with a peer or an entire country.
Currently, I am undergoing a practicum study of a secondary level English teacher for tenth graders. Each student is supplied with an iPad for classwork, and the teacher is provided an iPad and MacbookAir. Her Smart Board is operational when connected to this computer, and she is equipped with Smart Notebook '15 technologies. Two computers are in the classroom, but if the students decide that they cannot type their assignments on their phones or iPads, then we would instead go to the school library. She does not utilize the Smart technologies often and only projects Powerpoints on the board occasionally. Most of her work is done by the individual student or in groups, and they often use their one-to-one iPads for these activities.
I have learned how to operate Smart Board technologies and can do so fairly well. I have had no experience in creating a Prezi, although I have presented using one. I would like to learn how to create a Prezi, work with a movie maker application, blogs, wikis, digital storytelling, and presenting oral histories. I only have a small grasp of what digital storytelling is and have never applied the method, and I am not sure what an oral history project entails. I have had minimal interaction with wikis other than reading them outside of class, and the same applies for blogging.
I need to overcome my level of technological savvy in order to complete these objectives, but with proper guidance and practice I have no worry that such cannot be done. Once I become familiar with the technologies available to me in the classroom, I can better my abilities to apply and present my knowledge in an understandable manner to my students.
Prezi on Animal Farm.
The presentation covers the historical context which led up to and inspired George Orwell to create his satirical masterpiece. The prezi also reviews several comments Orwell had for the book and its political nature as well as his opinions of global affairs at the time. Because Animal Farm is all about allegory and allusion, the presentation would not be complete without a study of several examples of the direct parallels between the artistic and political events in the novel and reality.
I intend to use this presentation in the very near future. The teacher I am working with currently in my practicum study will be covering both Animal Farm and 1984 with her English II Honors class. Animal Farm is also the entry text for one of the grade levels at an international school I was looking into overseas. If I were to show the school that I would come thoroughly prepared for my lessons, then perhaps my chances of receiving a job offer would increase!
Allegory in Movie Maker:
This digital storytelling assignment juxtaposes different children's and young adult literature stories and tales to present the concept of allegorical interpretation and connection. I say interpretation because allegories from the same story may often be determined with different meanings from different readers' interpretations, and I say connection because very often the story's allegory can be interpreted as it connects to real life events and narratives.
An allegory is a symbolic and figurative portrayal of a a subject, occurrence, theme, or person as represented in a fictional narrative. This medium is particularly effective in portraying allegory and its significance to literature because it allows examples of the different modes of sound, audio, and visual to be presented within the same platform. Not only that, but in this video is a conglomeration of multiple scenes from separate videos that, when combined, contribute to a better understanding of the subject concept through the juxtaposition of the allegorical tale's narrative and its real life interpretation or connection.
I spent some days delaying my start of this project because I had no idea what to do in Movie Maker, and another evening was spent wondering what I would do the project on as I watched tutorials for the program. I finally decided on allegories and eventually got a grasp on how to operate the program. Finding appropriate music was a minor difficulty, but the final product developed very well.
I could use this technology to present the allegory subject matter before I have my students learn independently as they might create their own video projects describing other literary devices similar to allegory. Students could further learn about allegory as they relate this video's information to a particular text that they study.
Editing
The lesson activity that involves editing that I might use in my class would have the students practice their own critical reading and comprehension skills so that they may better understand what should be edited and why. I have been told to never have students revise their peers' papers, and I can understand that advice for good reason; however, there is nothing wrong with peer review and "advice" sessions. I say "advice" here instead of "editing" because some students may be reluctant to provide or receive and apply edits from other students, but if their peer partner, who would hopefully be someone they would respect, were to give advice on what might make a better assignment, then maybe the reviewed student would be more receptive.
The activity would not begin right away with the peer advice session, however. I would first apply a scaffolding technique in which I would project a paper onto the board, perhaps one I had written or one from a long ago student, and I would show them what corrections to make while explaining their purpose. I would use another example in a similar fashion, only I would have students come up to the projector and mark on the paper what I and their peers agree should be marked. This would be the "We do" section of the "I do, We do, You do" scaffolding technique. Editing both papers would take around ten minutes, and if students still struggle with any concepts then I will extend these initial activities. Before I release the students into their partner "advice" sessions, I would make it clear that the reviewing student must explain his motives for the advice to the reviewed student, and the reviewed student should not feel pressured to accept the changes if s/he does not agree with the remarks.
Oral History Lesson Plan
Background:
Students are beginning a literature unit, the final project for which is one where they interview an "author" of a work they have studied in their World Literature I class (E.A. Poe, Bill Shakespeare, Emerson, Sophocles). Students will dress and play the part of an author being interviewed for an oral history project. This lesson is the second in a unit of six.
Lesson:
Introduce students to the "feel" of an oral history project and interview and the many variations of such projects that can serve and inspire them. In class, we will review parts three of the six available oral history interviews, and for homework, students will watch two of the remaining three. In and out of class, we will dissect the videos with comments and answers to questions that I will provide or they will create.
Purpose:
Students will determine what they think best compliments and most hinders the appeal and nature of the oral history project. The students will regard interviewer tactics, interviewee responses, media edits, approaches and questions, material, and other methods involved in oral history interviews, and they will use this material to determine what they will and will not do in their own projects.
Oral History Research Method
Sitting Bull's Great Grandson
Steve Zahn Oral History
Tibet Remembered
An Irish American Oral History
Oral Histories from Segregated Evansville
What mediums are used in the project?
Does the editor use still pictures/audio overlay/transitions and video splices/music?
How does the interviewer format his questions?
What is a leading/loaded question?
How does the interview determine whether the interviewee has finished speaking or only pausing or thinking?
In what manner does the interviewer ask his questions?
How formal is the interview?
What is the purpose of subtitles?
Do subtitles work better than an interpreter speaking over the interviewer?
What do you think works best: to hear the questions spoken, see them written on the screen, or neither?
What is significant about the setting in which the interview takes place?
What is something that you should not do during the interview that you witness one or several of these interviewers doing?
What is the best way to handle sensitive subject matter?
What are some different ways the editors begin the video?
What part of having multiple interviewees helps the oral history project progress well/not as well?
How do the interviewers apply what their multiple interviewees had to say to the video?
Wiki
My wiki is labeled Hayden's wiki for author/character oral histories
Conducting a project such as this would have my students learning independently from their teacher. While in class I would conduct the general historical overview for context's sake, it would be the students' jobs to delve deeper into the author's, or character's, life and personality to understand better the message or purpose of the literature. They would have an artistic license for creativity in producing a style or story for their facts and presentation, so they would be practicing their creativity and collaboration skills as well as honing their knowledge and understanding.
Blog
On another note, I had some difficulty in coming up with how to use a blog for a class assignment. I am a creative individual and have always appreciated what blogs can bring to self-expression and representation on today's internet. I have never before used one, although I have considered the idea. One idea I fancied was having the students take on a persona from a novel and using the blog as a means of writing a letter or diary or something of the like so that they would have the chance to express themselves creatively but also come to understand the characters better. However, this was an example used in class, and I wanted my project to be somewhat original.
For these blogs, students would use their school email accounts, which are usually tied to Google, and set up a Blogger account and title it in a fashion similar to mine that hints at what the blog will be about. For instance, I wrote about Andre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, and I created an example blog called MonteCristotreasures that would serve a template purpose for my students when they are creating their own. These entries would not be long (just a few paragraphs of a couple of sentences each), but I would require them to show some thought and perhaps research evidence for contextual purposes. My example post is broad and general, but it serves as food for thought for my students. I thought that because blogs were different from wikis, readers would not be able to comment on posts because only the author can alter a blog post, but there is a comment option below my post, and I spend a good 30 minutes trying to submit a comment from another Google account and could not, so I am not too sure what to think about comments on blogs. My students would not be commenting on each other's outside of class anyways.
Technology Scholarship
More than Beliefs.pdf
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A summary and interpretation of "More than Beliefs: Subject Areas and Teachers' Integration of Laptops in Secondary Teaching" as published by Peter Caputi, Amy Chan, and Sarah K. Howard in the 46th volume of the British Journal of Education Technology on 2 November 2015.
The authors address the issue of effective adoption and integration of information and communication technologies (ICT's) within the classroom. Their survey regards the correlation between a subject area (Math, Science, or English) and the subject teacher's belief in the significance of using ICT's and their readiness over time to use ICT's within the classroom. Their findings discuss a higher correlation and acceptance of English teachers in their belief and readiness to apply ICT's in their learning and a lower belief and readiness in Math teachers. The authors provide three implications from their research analysis: subject area beliefs about integration affect the frequency of use; ICT's should be 'matched' with subject area values and learning outcomes; 'matches and clashes' are influenced by teacher knowledge, beliefs about practice, and curriculum and assessment (361).
The authors address what they know as they begin the study, such as their theory that "values and beliefs of subject areas are unlikely to be influenced by institutional initiatives to change teaching practice" (361). Then they regard their paper's research contributions, such as the effect of subject areas on integration, their contribution "to the variance of teachers' beliefs about integration, and their "unique trajectories over time in technology-related initiatives" (361). The authors define 'readiness' as the teacher's "perception of capabilities and skills required to integrate laptops," and 'belief' as the teacher's "perception of laptop's influence on learning and achievement on instruction and activities" in the different subject areas (362).
The primary concern in this article is how each subject area regards the growing significance of integrating ICT's during the initiative. According to the authors, "Mathematics emphasizes skills and procedures, but ICT's are not seen as important for success, and English emphasizes experience and feel for language, and ICT's are believed to support learning" (362). The part most relevant to those in an English class is that English teachers were the only ones to report an increase in confidence toward the integration and application of ICT's, and English teachers reported the strongest positive beliefs about ICT integration and significance.
Overall, findings show that "subject areas contributed to the variance of teacher beliefs" regardless of the amount of time and that subject areas "had unique trajectories in technology integration initiatives" (367). Evidently, subject areas do matter in terms of integration. There is a 'match' between English and ICT integration, and application is motivated by the belief that ICT use "supports the desired learning outcome" (368). The next step in the study would be to increase the amount of time teachers are observed and to understand better the 'matches' between subject area integration and the support of learning outcomes and student achievement (368).
Emerging Educational Technology
In my search, though, I deviated from virtual reality when I came across web chatter about augmented reality. The definition of augmented reality from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary reads: "an enhanced version of reality created by the use of technology to overlay digital information on an image of something being viewed through a device (as a smartphone camera)."
So what popped into my mind when I discovered the term may have been thoughts of Pokemon Go. While I have not played the game any, it serves as a popular and practical example of recent emerging augmented reality technology. A player can choose to let the game access his smartphone in-game and project a Pokemon's image onto the player's real-life surroundings through the camera view. While I thought this was a marvelous innovation, I could not decide how Pokemon Go might be an educational tool, so I put off researching into augmented reality with the hopes that I might come across something better.
Reluctantly, I download the app so that I might enjoy this little goody, and I discovered two things! 1) Blippar is an augmented reality application that automatically and seamlessly interacts with the camera view's surroundings. 2) Bllippar does A LOT!!
I first noticed that Blippar requires the user to point the camera at a specific item, and the app "deciphers" the item, spits out all sorts of words that connect to the item; they were synonyms, similar/related items, designs, purposes. Then Blippar takes a sort of snapshot of what it determines the item is, puts it along the bottom of the screen, and continues scanning the environment.
At the bottom of the screen, the user can select the recently placed snapshot, which takes him to a screen that places the snapshot in the center of a bubble chart and has related items, manufacturers, and maybe retailers stemming from the centered shot. Below is a pull-up screen that comes up when swiped and shows the user any available information, usually being a synopsis or timeline of the item. Below this is a list of connected websites that have some mention of the particular item as well as a list of yet some more related objects.
For my example, I "blipped" my computer keyboard. Blippar began producing words such as TYPING, DEVICE, COMPUTER, COMPUTER KEYBOARD, COMMUNICATION (note that it also produces phrases). Then it took a snapshot of a keyboard that was not mine but which it accessed through the web, labeled it "Keyboard Computer" and placed it at the bottom of the screen. I clicked on the shot and went to the first bubble chart page.
I clicked on the bottom bubble stem, labeled "Commodore 64," and went to its bubble chart. I swiped up to view its information page, in which I read about the Commodore 64 home computer, had the option of being taken to Wikipedia (while still inside the app), and looked at related "blipps" such as the ZX Spectrum, 8-bit, Apple Inc., Demoscene, and others.
Looking at all that the Blippar App does, I would say that it is one of the emerging products making the best use of augmented reality technologies and what they have to offer. In a classroom, particularly for low-level classes just learning about words or synonyms, this application could come in handy. It would introduce students to words and labels they may not otherwise know, allow them the access and means to research the words or items, satisfy some curiosity or hunger of knowledge, and even keep them entertained.
For instance, following the example provided in Blippar, I could instruct a lesson regarding bubble charts. The students can see how the app forms a bubble chart around a central idea/topic and expands the ideas to further bubbles. Each bubble comes with its own bubble chart, links, and information. Using Blippar as an example, my students could better understand how to use a graphic organizer like the bubble chart. Blippar can also be used for research of particular materials. If the app blips an image of William Shakespeare, it would take the user to a chart of the writer and all of his works and life events. I could have students create Prezi presentations to provide information in similar ways, as Blippar's fluid presentation is stylistically similar to Prezi's.
Blippar also has its own website and includes a program suite that is free to educators at
https://blippar.com/en/. A teacher can use the suite to create his own blips around a particular word/image/subject and provide a private classroom code to his students so that they may access the blips and uncover through augmented reality the various interactive information and activities the teacher can link to the subject of study.
For all our benefits, I have included below the Cracker Jack prize activity. I scanned the sticker and it took me to a virtual baseball park, where each sticker corresponds to a particular base. Now, I have three of the bases filled. If you click on an unlocked base, a certain activity pops up. The one for my example sticker was to film myself on a Cracker Jack dance cam. After dancing/singing whatever, I can choose to share my product with my friends. All very good fun!
Revision Project: Oral Histories
This lesson follows the first in an oral history unit I would conduct with ninth graders in a World Literature high school class. This is the final unit of my course before the End-of-Course Exam, and serves as a review unit with a heavy final project grade attached.
The preceding lesson has introduced students to the topic of oral histories and to the final project assignment:
they interview an "author" or "character" of a work they have studied in their World Literature I class (E.A. Poe, Bill Shakespeare, Emerson, Sophocles). Students will dress and play the part of an author being interviewed for an oral history project.
This lesson builds off of the first by reinforcing the students' understanding of oral histories, how to conduct them, and what works or does not work to make the oral history (content and video interview) present its message in the most effective manner. The primary learning objective is for students to be exposed to various procedures and practices of oral history video interviews and to determine for themselves what techniques they like and would want to include in their own projects and how they would perform them. In class, students will receive a handout of no more than 20 questions. These questions are directed toward these six video examples of oral histories that the students will watch in and out of class:
Oral History Resources:
Oral History Research Method
Sitting Bull's Great Grandson
Steve Zahn Oral History
Tibet Remembered
An Irish American Oral History
Oral Histories from Segregated Evansville
perhaps I could inspire the youth and their susceptible minds with the ideas of recognizing the significance that world travel had for the authors they study and for the possibilities they could create for themselves through global communion.
Students will watch segments ranging between 5 and 10 minutes each of the "Oral History Research Method," "Sitting Bull's Great Grandson," and "Steven Zahn Oral History" videos in class. The "Research Method" video will serve as review material as well as an example video. For homework, students will view the last three videos: "Tibet Remembered," "An Irish American Oral History," and "Oral Histories from Segregated Evansville." As they view all six movies, students will answer the 20 questions on the handout. This handout serves as reinforcement of their new knowledge and understanding of oral histories and also as a guideline for what devices and aesthetics help to make a more effective oral history video interview. Students will not need to answer these questions to analyze their own oral history projects, and they will not need to answer all 20 for each video -- simply, they will use whatever input they gather from any of the six videos to answer the questions efficiently and with examples. To ensure that students view some pieces of all six videos, I will require that they apply an example from each of the videos as they answer any of the 20 questions.
Throughout this lesson, students will regard interviewer tactics, interviewee responses, media edits, approaches and questions, material, and other methods involved in oral history interviews. They will use this material to determine what they will and will not do in their own projects.
Questions we will consider in class:
Revision Reflection
I chose the Oral History unit as my project to revise because as I was writing my initial project I knew that I could make it better if I had the time to spend on doing so. Even more reason and help came from Dr. Maxwell as she pointed my attention to some unclear areas in my direction, application, and reflection of the project.
In the revision, I clarified what we would be doing class, so there is no confusion as to how many videos we would be watching and for how long. I detailed the learning objective of the lesson so that an audience might be aware of what this lesson's purpose is and what I would want my students to learn from this lesson. I also rewrote my instructions regarding the handout, writing that the students had to answer no fewer than 10 questions in class and finish the rest as they viewed the remaining videos. Examples from the different videos are required in their explanations, but only one example is needed per answer; this is to show me that they at least looked at all six videos. Also, there should not be any more confusion that the questions only apply to the six sample oral history videos, and the students will not be using the handout to analyze their own video. The questions and answers were to serve more as guidelines. I added four more questions to the original sixteen to make it into a rounded 20, and I edited a few words here and there for more precise language.
In my revision, I have also designed my lesson plan to be applied to this project. Doing so helped me to organize my thoughts and designs for the revised project. I have included my lesson plan for this revision project here:
I am glad to have the chance to revise this, and I feel much better about the project now.
Reflection
My class experience for ENGL 564 in its entirety is a very positive and enriching one. I accomplished my personal goals of learning how to use and apply different educational technologies as well as research others not directly mentioned in class. Some of the products I had heard of and used before, and others were completely new to me. For the most part, it was an entirely new and unfamiliar experience. I can now use Prezi and MovieMaker with confidence, know how to construct a Wiki or Blog page, understand Oral Histories and rising technologies like the augmented reality tools and phone apps, and I am much more knowledgeable of how to use technology in the classroom to increase learning due to the class readings we had to conduct.
Many of these activities I intend to use in class in the future, if I have not already done so. I have already taken my efforts from the Prezi and MovieMaker presentations and applied them within the English II classes I was working with during my practicum experience at a high school. I benefited greatly from already having done all the work and being readily familiar with the material, and the students benefited greatly from my confidence and knowledge in the presentation. In my own high school career, my teachers utilized oral histories as projects, and I can very well do the same as well as apply emerging technologies like Blippar in my classroom.
The Prezi, MovieMaker, Oral History, Wiki, and emerging technologies projects were the most helpful for me to learn in this class. One project that I can recognize the modern importance of but may not use in my own classroom is the blog project. I would prefer to use a Wiki, where students can post and receive comments from others on their own work, rather than a blog, where writing material on the page is confined only to the single author. Otherwise, none of the projects worked improperly or differently than expected.
Since I began this course, my expectation and understanding of educational technology has certainly become more refined and expansive. Conducting a research on educational technologies and emerging technologies later in the semester were good projects that allowed us each to bring to the table our individual ideas and perceptions and help expand our classmates' understanding of the technologies available to us in the classroom. I do not think that before this class I had ever thought of what my own understanding of using technologies in the classroom was, but now I have much more of an understanding of the concept and its use in my own future in education.